Course Listing

Fundamental concepts and formalisms of conservation of energy and increase of entropy as applied to natural and engineered environmental and biological systems. In addition to lectures, pedagogical approach includes real-world observations and applications through student presentations and projects.

Overview of the basic features of the climate system (global energy balance, atmospheric general circulation, ocean circulation, and climate variability) and the underlying physical processes.

This is a core course in the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program. Launching a successful startup requires a business model that defines the venture's customer value proposition; plans for technology, operations, and marketing; and a formula for eventually earning profit. Students will learn how to design business models that address challenges that technology ventures frequently encounter as they grow and evolve. We will employ system dynamics modeling using simulation software to inform those business model design choices. A team project will investigate business model options for an early-stage startup.

This course will provide students with an introduction to environmental science and engineering by providing an overview of current environmental issues, including climate change, air pollution, and water pollution. Students critically evaluate underlying science and knowledge limitations, and explore the nexus between scientific knowledge, regulatory frameworks, and engineering solutions to some of the world's most pressing environmental problems. The course will emphasize the interconnected biological, geological, and chemical cycles of the earth system including the multi-dimensional impacts of human activity.

This course introduces students to the fluid Earth, emphasizing Earth's weather and climate, the carbon cycle, and global environmental change. The physical concepts necessary for understanding the structure, motion and energy balance of the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere are covered first, and then these concepts are applied in exploring major earth processes. Examples from Earth's past history, on-going changes in the climate, and implications for the future are highlighted.

An introduction to the science of global warming/climate change meant to assist students in understanding issues that often appear in the news and public debates. The course is meant for any STEM student with basic math preparation, not assuming prior science courses. Topics include the greenhouse effect and consequences of the rise of greenhouse gasses, including sea level rise, ocean acidification, heat waves, droughts, glacier melting, forest fires, expected changes to hurricanes, and more. An ability to critically evaluate observations, predictions, and risks will be developed throughout. The students will be guided in a hands-on, in-class quantitative analysis of climate observations, models, and feedbacks using provided Python Jupyter notebooks.

Statistical inference, deterministic and stochastic models of data, denoising and filtering, data, visualization, time series analysis, image processing, Monte Carlo methods. The course emphasizes hands-on learning using real data drawn from atmospheric and environmental observations, applied by students in projects and presentations.

This course examines the fundamental basis of geospatial analysis and prepares students for further learning in remote sensing, advanced geospatial analysis, and spatial statistics. Focusing primarily on environmental datasets and questions, the course utilizes Python/R and QGIS to explore how spatial analysis can be used in environmental science, engineering, and management. This course is suited for students who want an accelerated introduction to geospatial analysis.

This course will take a hands-on approach to learning climate and atmospheric physics. Some of the topics covered will include the Greenhouse effect, hurricanes, climate variability, the jet stream, and global climate modeling. Students will learn to create effective data visualizations and read scientific literature. Each week will have one 165-minute session to perform laboratory experiments, run models, or analyze data. In this flipped-classroom environment, knowledge transfer will occur primarily outside of class through readings and pre-class assignments in preparation for each session. 

Observations and fundamentals of ocean dynamics, from the role of the oceans in climate change to beach waves. Topics include the greenhouse effect and the role of the oceans in global warming; El Niño events in the equatorial Pacific Ocean; the wind-driven ocean circulation and the Gulf Stream; coastal upwelling and fisheries; temperature, salinity, the overturning ocean circulation and its effect on global climate stability and variability; wave motions: surface ocean waves, internal waves, tsunamis, and tides; ocean observations by ships, satellites, moorings, floats and more. A field trip to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod will be an opportunity to learn about sea-going oceanography. Students will be doing a group video project and group in-class presentations. Scientific computation and visualization methods will be introduced (students may choose either Matlab or Python) and will be used for some homework assignments.

Physical concepts necessary to understand atmospheric structure and motion. Phenomena studied include the formation of clouds and precipitation, solar and terrestrial radiation, dynamical balance of the large-scale wind, and the origin of cyclones. Concepts developed for understanding today's atmosphere are applied to understanding the record of past climate change and the prospects for climate change in the future.

Chemical and physical processes determining the composition of the atmosphere and its implications for air pollution, climate, and life on Earth. Emphasis is on the construction of engineering models and the application of chemical principles to understand and address current environmental issues. Nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon cycles. Climate forcing by greenhouse gases and aerosols. Stratospheric ozone. Oxidizing power of the atmosphere. Methane. Surface air pollution: aerosols and ozone. Deposition to ecosystems: acid rain, nitrogen, mercury.

Is the ocean warming? Where and why is sea level rising? Where does the freshwater from Arctic ice melting go? Using real-world examples, this course will provide an overview of why and how we measure the ocean, focusing primarily on its physical properties. It will cover sensors, instruments and platforms, best field practices in data collection and calibration, fieldwork organization implementation, and ocean data analysis. During the course, students will build, test and calibrate an ocean profiling instrument. Students will participate in a one-day research cruise where they will collect data using both the instruments they built and other traditional oceanographic instruments

This course is an introduction to the challenges involved in designing spacecraft for observation of Earth and exploration of other planets. Topics covered include basic atmospheric and planetary science, key principles of remote sensing, telemetry, orbital transfer theory, propulsion and launch system design, and thermal and power management.

Part 1: Intersection of environment/industry, including decarbonization of the materials industry. Chemistries for cement and steel production without carbon dioxide emission, the smelting industry for extraction of metals from ores, present-day and possible futures for chemistry of a hydrogen economy, and chemistry of emerging battery technologies.

Part 2: Environmental processes of chemistry, such as alkalinity of ocean acidification, pH and pE as master variables for the chemistry of an ecosystem, drinking and wastewater treatment, and soil chemistry for agriculture.

ESE/EPS 166 engages the new Harvard Climate Observatory that will fundamentally herald a new era in both climate research and the development of strategic approaches to advancing the climate impact on public policy. The central objective of the New Climate Observatory is to address this problem by introducing, for the first time, the development of a new generation of innovative technology that takes explicit advantage of recent major advances in Harvard-based instruments and optical designs in combination with advanced solar powered stratospheric aeronautical design. The new solar powered stratospheric aircraft that together constitute the Climate Observatory engage multiple recent design innovations in photovoltaics, energy storage, as well as guidance and control. Together these enable a combination of long duration solar powered observing systems, each targeted at the highest priority risk factors that threaten global societal stability. The resulting observations will, for the first time, provide the irrefutable evidence needed for quantitative forecasts of the dominant risk factors stemming from the global use of fossil fuels.

While satellites have for years dominated the federal climate programs, for the purpose of developing tested and trusted quantitative forecasts of risk, satellites engender significant disadvantages. In sharp contrast to satellite systems, the new Harvard Climate Observatory provides, for the first time, orders of magnitude improvement in spatial and temporal resolution observations. ESE/EPS 166 will focus explicitly on this new generation of climate observations, forecasting, and resulting advances in public policy. An important part of the course is the display of Harvard flight instruments in the laboratory and the strategy for addressing unsolved scientific problems with new instrumentation.

This course provides a cross-disciplinary overview of environmental science and how research contributes to public policy and human health risk assessment through a case study of a local pollution issue. The course will focus on exposing students to a combination of field, lab and modeling techniques used in environmental sciences through an intensive study of factors affecting the bioaccumulation of contaminants on Cape Cod, MA.  The class will include field visits, lab work, and interactive group research aimed at synthesizing research findings. Experience conducting multidisciplinary environmental research and data analysis will be provided. Course Activities: Lectures, discussions, presentations, field/lab research, data analysis.